Method for providing asynchronous event notification in systems
View Patent ↗A method is provided for asynchronous notifications from a device to a host in systems without requiring hardware provision for asynchronous operations. In an embodiment of the invention, a system supports command queuing and a command is sent from a host to a device. The device receives the command and an associated tag, and accepts the command as valid. After accepting the command, the device begins monitoring for asynchronous events. If an asynchronous event is detected, the device provides notification of the event by sending a response and the associated tag to the host. In another embodiment of the invention, a method of asynchronous notification enables use of invalid tags. In a further embodiment of the invention, asynchronous notifications may be enabled by a host and operate without additional host commands.
1. A method for asynchronous event notification by a device in a system that supports command queuing, comprising:
receiving a command and a tag from a host;
accepting the command without scheduling the command for completion;
monitoring device operation for an asynchronous event, the asynchronous event comprising at least one of an encryption condition, a license condition and a right-to-use condition;
detecting an asynchronous event; and
providing notification of the asynchronous event by scheduling the command for completion and sending a response comprising the tag to the host.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the command comprises an asynchronous event notification request.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the asynchronous event notification request comprises a command code or command option bit.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the tag comprises one of an invalid, out of range and a duplicate tag.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the asynchronous event comprises exceeding at least one threshold related to at least one of:
temperature;
shock;
vibration;
power;
humidity;
altitude;
gas pressure;
error rate;
wear out; and
delayed completion thresholds.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving and providing comprise using, at least one of Universal Serial Bus, Serial Attached SCSI, AT Attachment and Serial ATA communication.
7. A method for asynchronous event notification by a device in a system that supports command queuing, comprising;
receiving a command and a tag from a host;
determining that the command comprises an asynchronous event notification request;
accepting the command without scheduling the command for completion;
monitoring device operation for at least one asynchronous us events, the asynchronous event comprising at least one of an encryption condition, a license condition and a right-to-use condition;
detecting the at least one asynchronous event; and
providing notification of the at least one asynchronous event by scheduling the command for completion and sending a response comprising the tag to the host.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the asynchronous event notification request comprises one of a command code and a command option hit.
9. The method of claim 7 wherein determining that the command comprises an asynchronous event notification request comprises determining that the command from the host comprises an invalid tag.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein the invalid tag comprises an out of range or duplicate tag.
11. The method of claim 7 wherein the asynchronous event comprises exceeding at least one threshold related to at least one of:
temperature;
shock;
vibration;
power;
humidity;
altitude;
gas pressure;
error rate;
wear out; and
delayed completion thresholds.
12. The method of claim 7 wherein receiving and providing comprise using a communication protocol comprising at least one of Universal Serial Bus, AT Attachment, Serial Attached SCSI and Serial ATA communication.
13. A method for asynchronous notification from a device in a system that supports command queuing, comprising:
receiving a command from a host to enable unsolicited queue command responses;
assigning a tag for unsolicited queue command responses;
enabling unsolicited queue command responses in response to the command from the host;
monitoring device operation for asynchronous events;
detecting an asynchronous event; and
providing notification of the asynchronous event by sending a response comprising the assigned tag to the host,
wherein the unsolicited queue command responses are enabled persistently at least one of a reset operation and a loss of power.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein the tag is received with the command.
15. The method of claim 13 wherein the tag is assigned by the device.
16. The method of claim 13 wherein the tag comprises at least one of an invalid tag, out of range tag and a duplicate tag.